Unless her prayers were answered with a $100,000 discount that is...

"RNL has previously created clones of a "cancer-sniffing" dog and which have now started training."

How very Cyteen. I wonder how long before it gets the "working animal" classification on its geneset...

So since God clearly intervened in cloning, does that mean the big G's cool with it all and those whappy fundaementalists in Amerika will shut up complaining and actually let their scientists get on with cloning and stem cell research?

No, this isn't a comment about the dog's possible bionic canine enhancements - it just occurs to me that a woman prepared to pay $150,000 to a group of Korean scientists and then thanks God for it isn't exactly an intellectual! Why pay the money at all if its her super invisible friend? Why not just pay.... Ah... Well, as long as she's breeding dogs and not people - come back eugenics - all is forgiven.

Than a dumb yank with too much money but without the sense to realise that none of the 5 clones are actually the same dog; and then the fuckwit goes on to praise god for the use of cloning... please can we have this person put down?

Still, on a brighter note - with this dog cloning technology the Koreans should never face a food shortage.

What a coincidence that on the day my mother informs me she will have to put done our 18-year-old border collie cross alsatian, this story is posted. Perhaps it is a sign that Rab has a chance to come back as long as the funds can support him.

Where would we be without modern science? Prorbably a lot richer and less likely to see the same dog twice...

Au revoir, old friend.

Sigh. Yet another deluded religious nut who gives credit to an imaginary sky-fairy instead of to the scientists who developed the techniques.

How long before they start cloning the tastiest dogs?

Mine's the one with the hot dog in the pocket.

Korea. Dogs. Inbred. Inbread. Geddit? LIke in a sandwich.

1. This woman if obviously so stupid she believes the soul and character of her puppy will return in these clones. How many more idiots will ignore naturally born animals who are waiting in dog pounds for a loving owner with more than air between the ears? This woman's existence is a threat to the human gene pool.

2. Surely cloning may interfere with the natural order of things and possibly introduced defects into the canine gene pool?

Now all you naysaying athiest/agnostic El-Reg readers know the truth!

... just a shame she didn't ask God's advice before naming the poor mutt. Boogers! I ask you!

"with this dog cloning technology the Koreans should never face a food shortage."

Actually, they made 10 clones...

The eyes of the McDonalds franchise owners in Korea have lit up at this story.

Mines the one next to the burger with the leash hanging out

Or the scientists, realising they've failed buy 5 very similar looking pups from near by puppy farms.

Just a thought.

You want fries with that?

Once it sniffs the cancer, how does it deal with it? Bite it? Maul the sufferers!

It would also be a bit difficult to tell when someone has cancer of the anus...

The woman should get done for cruelty naming her dog that, as well as for having more money than feking sense!

"RNL Bio, which gained the exclusive licence for dog cloning from Seoul National University in June, performed the procedure. The company is taking legal action against a US firm for patent infringement." - wtf? you cant patent cloning of specific animals surely?

plus - oh great - more dangerous dogs on the planet. its wondering why they felt they could spend that amount of cash to get another dog that LOOKS like the old one. we all know your personality and character are defined by how you are raised... not by your genes necessarily

I see that science has tapped into a large seam of stupid rich people who want to clone their beloved pets. Good for the scientists although I fail to see what god has to do with it. Maybe she thinks this god of hers has nothing better to do than pander to the neurotic obsessions of ignorant rich old bags.

I hope she enjoys creepy pleasure of owning uncanny facsimiles of her beloved baby, er dog. Other people with more brains will realise their animals are dead and just buy new puppies.

And that is why my two brothers and I all like the same things. /sarcasm

It seems a bit pointless to me. Sure the dog will look the same, but the original dog isn't in there!

"> Why pay the money at all if its her super invisible friend? Why not just pay...."

Actually, yeh, that's the real question here: is the $100k discount more than or less than the amount she's slapped down into the collection plate every sunday over the years?

If yes, then maybe she's not as dumb as she looks...!

Coat? Ah, yes, it's the five identical ones hanging on the peg over there :-)

Saw her on the lunchtime news. No offense meant to her, but from her description of how she reacted to her pet's death, it seemed like she was in desperate need of psychiatric help, rather than being encouraged to not be able to cope, by creating more dogs with the same genetic code as her dead pet.

Quoth Ra Jeong-Chang, CEO of RNL Bio in a Daily Mail article...

'For my next project, I will consider cloning camels for rich people in the Middle East,' he added.

WTF, ROTFLMAO, etc.

...then a bunch of Korean scientists *playing* God is the next best thing. And given the price the original tends to ask (your first born son, eternal praise and worship, that sort of thing) $50,000 for the impersonators seems like quite a bargain.

Don't clones still have a short life expectancy as the genes are already knackered from going through the childhood growth spurts?

Admittedly the official verdict on "Dolly" was that she died of lung cancer, which wasn't related to her being a clone, but it wouldn't surprise me if this woman had to watch five copied of her beloved pet die odd deaths over the next five years.

Blimey.. can you imagine the uproar if people start cloning race horses. Red Rum v2 anybody?

Following in fine Christian tradition of spending vast amounts of cash, not on helping the poor and needy, but on injecting the DNA of your dead pet into the a live cell of another animal.

Or maybe she had just finished watching a re-run of that other fine example of Christian thanks and praise - the Oscars.

Ahoy there me hearty Christians - consider ye selves boarded!

er...would that be cheaper than simply breeding them?

or would someone have a particular emotional connection to a specific camel?

wtf.

btw pit bulls are stupid dogs.

"And that is why my two brothers and I all like the same things. /sarcasm"

erm... i said "plus - oh great - more dangerous dogs on the planet. its wondering why they felt they could spend that amount of cash to get another dog that LOOKS like the old one. we all know your personality and character are defined by how you are raised... not by your genes necessarily" - i said necessarily...

its all to do with experiences in certain aspects of your life. what i am saying is that you can take 2 people - can even be done with twins - and due to the experiences in life they will turn out different.

certain key elements in life can fundamentally change you as a person. the fact that her old dog might not be a baby eating machine doesnt mean the little clones arent the spawn of satan :)

It seems pretty obvious that the woman would believe in God, after all, cloning and religion serve similar purposes – both give you hope for life after death.

All life forms are predisposed to fear death, it's called a survival instinct. One of the primary reasons religion came about was to provide comfort to those who were dying, hence philosophical musings like “Death is not an end, it's a beginning”, or religious concepts like Reincarnation. Many religions have even developed a punishment/reward system that claims to reward the faithful with paradise, and punish the wicked with hell. Of course, since “dead men tell no tales”, we don't have any firsthand reports of whether any of this is true – all the people who know are dead! Intelligent men through the ages have pondered the mystery of life after death as it applies to religion, and several have come down on the side of religion. Consider Pascal's wager – The consequences of a religious person being wrong (dying and ceasing to exist) are far less than the consequences of an atheist being wrong (dying and being cast into hell) – therefore it is safer from a logical standpoint to be religious.

Anyway, cloning is science's answer to life after death. “Beloved pet gone? Sure religion can comfort you by telling you your pet is in a “better place” - but we can bring your pet back! Yes, it's not the exact pet – it doesn't have your old pet's memories and it's a puppy – but it's Genes are Identical. A clone is almost like a second chance, you can start over with your pet as a puppy and do everything just the way you want to.” A pitch like this is hard for a bereaved person to pass up.

To end with a bit of levity, here's an old joke. A rich man passes away, and leaves his dog in his servant's care. When the dog passes, the servant honors his masters wishes and brings the dog to the local parish priest for interment. The priest sadly explains that dogs can't be buried in a Catholic cemetery, as they aren't members of the religion. The servant then exclaims, “But my master has given me $25,000 to make sure his beloved pet was buried! What shall I do?” The priest's eyes light up, saying, “$25,000 to be buried? Why didn't you tell me the dog was Catholic?”

You know, if you're the youngest brother you have 30 - 40% chance of being gay?

ROFL

Nice one about the shortage

lucky im an only child then :)

@ sarah - fair point. for me its the fact that a pitbull is bred for killing other dogs. it is bread from specific strains to do more damage and cleave more meat from the bone. its like saying a knife isnt dangerous as its never stabbed anyone. but it has the potential to be more dangerous than a spoon etc.

@ "Well, that's consistent" - to be honest sarah - life isnt consistent... i cannot make blanket statements as we all know there are expeptions to almost every rule. i know to a certain extent i seem to contradict myself but im talking about emotions and physical attributes - 2 very different things.

@ "Pit bulls aren't inherently dangerous as a breed" - BUT they are the most dangerous breed though, due to the damage they can do compared to every other breed

i know no animal is born bad - same with humans, for me its the potential in such animals. the fact that i bet almost all bad dog incidents are caused by naughty kids etc still doesnt detract from the fact its dangerous dog in the wrong circumstances or wrong hands. if the dog has a stroke or epileptic fit (which often makes them violent), which dog do you want in your house? a spaniel or a pitbull?

btw - im a dog lover - (not dog 'lover' just to clarify lol) so im not anti-dogs - i just know certain breeds arent really massively suitable for certain situations. and surely there are much better breeds for therapy dogs than a bred fighting dog?

It was never mentioned, but how many Korean scientists were involved? Three? OMG, the triune being!

I must be God, because I'm the only one who hears when I pray.

Now, they should have first created a clone of the original mother (likely from the micro chimerae, as the original is undoubtedly wormfood now). Then, cloned the target using the original near (genetically) identical maternal clone for surrogacy.

Also, the epigenetics (all of several levels) need to be preserved.

OK, that's two patents the Koreans don't have.... all they built was a DNA clone... *yawn*... hard part is synchronizing all those bitches, or it was before. The rest is just scientific prestidigitation.

Yum! More Shergar Burgers...

(obviously) devout christian pays 50k for scientists to 'play God' with a dog named from Revenge of the Nerds?

The intolerance for those with religious beliefs is a bit thick here, innit? I don't necessarily share the woman's beliefs and I certainly respect everyone's right to have a superiority complex of the sort displayed by too many of the above commenters, but perhaps reversing roles during the Spanish Inquisition wouldn't have made it any better?

1. Buy white coat and nerd specs and a couple of test tubes to wave about.

2. A bit of advertising amongst rich Americans.

3. American gives you $100k + picture of dog.

4. Walk around dog pounds/restaurants until you find something close to picture.

5. Phone happy American.

6. Bin the stupid white coat + specs and buy new threads + car.

As if there was a shortage of pit bulls...

God would probably preferred she adopt one from a shelter. Actually for that kind of money, she could have funded a shelter.

It just goes to show you that...

One Good Booger, Deserves Another.

Rumors that she named it Booger Too...

ItSnott!

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/08/joyce_mckinney_from_mormon_man.html